Seth MacFarlane, Cicely Tyson, Bob Iger Among TV Academy Hall of Fame Honorees

By Michael Schneider

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Bob Iger, Geraldine Laybourne, Seth MacFarlane, Jay Sandrich and Cicely Tyson have been selected as the next five inductees to the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame.

The 25th Hall of Fame class will be honored at a ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, at the TV Academy’s Saban Media Center. The Hall of Fame selection committee chooses industry players “who have made outstanding contributions in the arts, sciences or management of television over a lifetime career or via singular achievements.”

Iger, the chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, is being recognized for the growth he’s given the company since taking over as CEO in 2005, acquiring Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox. Laybourne is the groundbreaking female executive and entrepreneur who oversaw the creation of Nickelodeon and co-founded Oxygen Media. MacFarlane is a five-time Emmy winner who created “Family Guy” and “American Dad.” Sandrich is a five-time Emmy winner who directed classic comedies including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Soap,” “Benson,” “The Cosby Show,” “The Golden Girls” and more. Tyson has won three Emmys via an acting career that has spanned more than six decades.

“These contemporary performers, content creators and executives have been pioneers and innovators in so many aspects of television; and they have had a profound impact on their art and on our culture,” said Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the . “It’s an honor to welcome this distinguished group of individuals into the Hall of Fame and to acknowledge their remarkable contributions, which continue to shape our industry.”

More than 146 individuals have been inducted into the Hall of Fame since its inception in 1984.

“These exceptional individuals have been major forces in television’s evolution,” said Rick Rosen, Hall of Fame Selection Committee chair. “It is our pleasure to honor them and celebrate their influence and impact on the growth of our industry across six decades of unprecedented change.”

This year’s committee included Rosen, the head of television for William Morris Endeavor; Marcy Carsey, Emmy Award-winning producer of shows including “Roseanne”; Bonnie Hammer, chairman, NBCUniversal Content Studios; Peter Roth, president, Warner Bros. Television; Fred Silverman, founder of The Fred Silverman Company and former executive at ABC, CBS and NBC; and Nina Tassler, former CBS Entertainment president and partner at PatMa Productions.

[Pictured: MacFarlane, Tyson, Iger.]